Privacy Policy

This policy explains the what, how, and why of the information we collect when you visit the BISHTA website, or when you use our services. It describes the specific ways we use and disclose information. We take your privacy extremely seriously, and we never sell lists or email addresses. It applies to information we collect about:

What we do with the information we gather

We require this information to understand your needs and provide you with a better service, and in particular for the following reasons:

Internal record keeping.

We may use the information to improve our products and services.

We may periodically send promotional emails about new products, special offers or other information which we think you may find interesting using the email address which you have provided.

From time to time, we may also use your information to contact you for market research purposes. We may contact you by email, phone, fax or mail. We may use the information to customise the website according to your interests.

Visitors to our website

When someone visits www.bishta.co.uk, we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. We do this to find out things such as the number of visitors to the various parts of the site. This information is only processed in a way which does not identify anyone. We do not make and do not allow Google to make, any attempt to find out the identities of those visiting our website. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be upfront about this. We will make it clear when we collect personal information and will explain what we intend to do with it.

Use of cookies by BISHTA

A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive. Once you agree, the file is added, and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.

We use traffic log cookies to identify which pages are being used. This helps us analyse data about web page traffic and improve our website to tailor it to customer needs. We only use this information for statistical analysis purposes, and then the data is removed from the system.

Overall, cookies help us provide you with a better website, by enabling us to monitor which pages you find useful and which you do not. A cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any information about you, other than the data you choose to share with us.

You can choose to accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically allow cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies if you prefer. This may prevent you from taking full advantage of the website.

Search Engine / Online reporting tool

Our website search, and decision notice search is powered by Computer Business Services (CBS). Search queries and results are logged anonymously to help us improve our website and search functionality. No user-specific data is collected by either BISHTA or any third party. CBS use Google Webmaster on BISHTA’s behalf. For more information, please see Google’s privacy policy

E-newsletter

We use a third-party provider, MailChimp, to deliver our e-newsletters. We gather statistics around email opening and clicks using industry standards technologies including clear gifs to help us monitor and improve our newsletter. For more information, please see MailChimp’s privacy notice

Security and Performance

BISHTA uses a third party service to help maintain the security and performance of the BISHTA website. To deliver this service, it processes the IP addresses of visitors to the BISHTA website.

WordPress

We use a third-party service, WordPress, to publish our website. The BISHTA website is hosted by WordPress.com, which is run by Automattic Inc. We use standard WordPress services to collect anonymous information about users’ activity on the site, for example, the number of users viewing pages on the site, to monitor and report on the effectiveness of the site and to help us improve it. For more information about how WordPress processes data, please see Automattic’s privacy policy.

Security

We are committed to ensuring that your information is secure. To prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have put in place suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.

Members who enter the British Pool & Hot Tub Awards

People who contact us via social media

We use a third-party provider, Hootsuite to manage our social media interactions. If you send a private or direct message via social media, the message will be stored by HootSuite for three months. It will not be shared with any other organisations.

People who make a complaint to us

When we receive a complaint from a person, we record this information in a complaints file, containing the details of the complaint. This typically includes the identity of the complainant and any other individuals involved in the complaint.

We will only use the personal information we collect to process the complaint and to check on the level of service our members, and BISHTA provides. We do compile and publish statistics showing information of complaints we receive, but not in a form which identifies anyone and these will only be shared internally.

We usually have to disclose the complainant’s identity to whomever the complaint is about. This is inevitable where, for example, the service by a member of BISHTA is in dispute. If a complainant does not want information identifying him or her to be disclosed, we will try to respect that. However, it may not be possible to handle a complaint on an anonymous basis.

There may be occasions, when BISHTA shares details of a complaint with Hampshire County Council Trading Standards personnel, as part of the ongoing Primary Authority Partnership. For more information, please see Hampshire County Council’s Privacy Policy.

We will keep personal information contained in complaints files in line with our retention policy. This means that information relating to a complaint will be retained for two years from closure. It will be kept in a secure environment, and access to it will be restricted according to the ‘need to know’ principle.

Similarly, where enquiries are submitted to us, we will only use the information supplied to us to deal with the enquiry and any subsequent issues and to check on the level of service our members, and BISHTA provides.

Your rights

Under the Data Protection Act 1998 and now the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), you have rights as an individual which you can exercise about the information we hold about you.

Complaints or queries

BISHTA tries to meet the highest standards when collecting and using personal information. For this reason, we take any complaints we receive about this very seriously. We encourage people to bring it to our attention if they think that our collection or use of information is unfair, misleading or inappropriate. We would also welcome any suggestions for improving our procedures.

This privacy policy was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of BISHTA’s collection and use of personal information. However, we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed. Any requests for this should be sent to the address below.

Controlling your personal information

You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:

whenever you are asked to fill in a form on the website, look for the box that you can click to indicate that you do not want the information to be used by anybody for direct marketing purposes

if you have previously agreed to us using your personal information for direct marketing purposes, you may change your mind at any time by writing to or emailing us at [email address]

What we collect

We may collect the following information:

name and job title

contact information including email address

demographic information such as postcode, preferences and interests

other information relevant to customer surveys and offers

Access to personal information

BISHTA tries to be open as it can be regarding giving people access to their personal information. Individuals can find out if we hold personal information. Individuals can find out if we keep any personal information by making a ‘subject access request’ under the Data Protection Act 1998. If we do hold information about you will:

give you a description of it

tell you why we are holding it

tell you who it could be disclosed to, and

let you have a copy of the information in an intelligible form.

To make a request to BISHTA for any personal information we may hold you need to put the request in writing. If you agree, we will try to deal with your request informally, for example by providing you with the specific information you need over the telephone.

If we do hold information about you, you can ask us to correct mistakes by, once again, writing to us.

Disclosure of personal information

In many circumstances, we will not disclose personal data without consent. However, when we investigate a complaint, for example, we will need to share personal information with the organisation concerned and with other relevant bodies.

We will not sell, distribute or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your permission or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you promotional information about third parties which we think you may find interesting if you tell us that you wish this to happen.

For business details of BISHTA members, this information is shared with other BISHTA members, as a benefit to promote business networking, but members are entitled to opt out of having their information shared with others (and this will also automatically restrict those members from accessing the business contact details for other BISHTA members).

If you believe that any information we are holding on you is incorrect or incomplete, please write to or email us as soon as possible, at the above address. We will promptly correct any information found to be incorrect.

You can also get further information on:

agreements we have with other organisations for sharing information;

circumstances where we can pass on personal data without consent, for example, to prevent and detect crime and to produce anonymised statistics;

our instructions to staff on how to collect, use and delete personal data; and

how we check that the information we hold is accurate and up to date.

Links to other websites

Our website may contain links to other websites of interest. However, once you have used these links to leave our site, you should note that we do not have any control over that other website. Therefore, we cannot be responsible for the protection and privacy of any information which you provide while visiting such sites, and such sites are not governed by this privacy statement. You should exercise caution and look at the privacy statement applicable to the website in question.

Changes to this privacy policy

BISHTA may change this policy from time to time by updating this page. This policy is valid from 1st May 2018.

How to contact us

If you want to request information about our privacy policy you can email us via admin@bishta.co.uk or write to:

This will vary and so discuss this with your BISHTA dealer, but a good rule is approximately £1 – £1.50 per day, but there are a number of factors that could affect this figure, so check with your BISHTA Member.

Domestic self-contained spas are usually referred to as ‘hot tubs’ here in the UK, to avoid confusion with the terms “spa” which is usually thought of as some kind of hotel venue where you get pampered! Quite often, people enjoy the benefits of being in warm water at a hotel or fitness club and decide they want to replicate the experience in their own home. Find out more here.

If there’s a hosepipe ban, you may still permitted to fill or top-up your hot tub, but this may have to be with a bucket, rather than a hosepipe. If there’s a drought order, your new hot tub can be filled during construction, but it can’t be topped up. We have found that if the hot tub needs to be emptied for good reason, then the water suppliers may allow refilling, but it’s best to contact your water suppliers first. Additionally, your BISHTA contractor can advise on various ways in which water can be conserved. Past experience shows that, with help, owners are still able to enjoy their Hot Tub when there are water restrictions.

There are a number of factors that will affect the likely running costs of hot tubs and swim spas, including heat losses and usage. The greater the volume that needs heating, the higher the running costs. Water temperature is typically set between 36°C to 40o C, but in the summer, especially during very hot weather, this might be reduced to make the temperature more comfortable. The higher the water temperature is set, the more energy will be required to maintain it and therefore the higher the running costs. Find our more about the factors that effect running cost here.

BISHTA would always recommend that you buy a hot tub or swim spa from a reputable company who offer a full delivery and installation service, to avoid any potential issues that may arise. However, if you have the skills and expertise to install it yourself, BISHTA click here to read our tips.

Not usually, however, the installation of a hot tub or swim spa require planning permission, if it is in a conservation area, for instance, or the hot tub is part of a structure in the garden. If there are no restrictions, then you can usually put the equipment anywhere in your garden as long as it is installed on a level, solid base. If in doubt about whether planning is required, check with your local planning office for clarification.

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